A Bunch of Stuff

• My Tran is still not ready. Yesterday when I called, Mike was hoping the part would be in today. Today, Mike called and the part is in transit from the US and should be here by Friday. Plus, while we were presuming it would be under warranty (Husband bought a 2 year warranty along with my Tran), it's not. The warranty only covers structural things. But since I've only had my Tran for a month, they will split the cost with me. Only $498 plus taxes. Sheesh.
• Shaggy is sick. Poor guy. He hasn't been to school all week (Monday was a PD day). And I can't see him going tomorrow either. I think he has bronchitis. We have a doctors appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I saw his teacher today in the hallway at school (you'll read about why in the next bullet) and I smiled and said hi to her - she said hi and then looked at the floor quickly and made a beeline for the coffee break room. Not even a queary as to how the sicky is doing. And my first thought was You really are a snot. And I know that's not very nice to think that, but I'm taking Roses advice and I will be the adult. No more snotty-toned notes from me mister. And yet the whole situation is still bothersome to me.
• Tigger had his eyes examined by a new doctor in town today. He's usually seen by the specialist in London who did his ROP surgery but we are behind in appointments and it's getting harder to find time to go to London. So I'm going to ask to be referred to the specialist here in town. And we are doing this now because Tigger's glasses are somewhere at church, presumably under the snow and ice. He lost them the day before the ice storm walking to Grampa's truck. Which was 2 weeks ago. It just gives me a headache to think too much about it. His new glasses should be ready next week. So when I dropped Tigger off at school today, that's when I saw Shaggy's teacher in the hallway.
• Today was a bit stressful for me. Husband gave me a list of things that needed to be done pronto and it took me 4 hours to do the first thing. Because my assistant interrupts me with questions. Which she needs to do in order to learn her job, but it just makes my jobs longer to do. And when I have deadlines, I get stressed. But I think I still came across as patient today even though on the inside I wasn't feeling it.
• Zoomer's passport has been applied for. It should be here in two weeks. Best case scenario. Worst case scenario it will be here in 3 1/2 weeks. We leave for China in 5 1/2 weeks and we still need to apply for our VISAS. But we can't without passports. Our tickets were bought yesterday...before we checked about airmiles (our agency took care of it all)...so we're thinking of getting a large screen TV with our airmiles and just finding the money for the plane tickets somewhere else. We know where our priorities lie.
• I received the cutest little red fleece sweater and sockies for Thumbelina from Alfred's Mom in the mail yesterday. What a nice surprise! Thank you so much Alfred's Mom!!! I will try to post pictures soon. I'm sorting out in my mind what clothing to bring to China for Miss T. So far, I have a few sleepers, one denim overall outfit, and the red sweater. I really need to organize and shop!
• We are going to a travel clinic next week to probably get more shots. I was hoping they could just give me a list over the phone of what they recommend and we could get them from our family doctor, but that isn't how they do it. The doctor there wants to know what part of China we will be visiting, how we will be travelling, our medical history, blah blah blah. We have to go to London for that, so I'm hoping we don't have to rush home and we'll be able to go shopping and maybe buy a highchair and carseat.
• After the ice storm we discovered that our DVR wasn't working anymore. Which means nobody can watch TV. So we've been watching movies for the last two weeks instead. I haven't missed the TV too much, so I'm not sure why we really need a large screen TV but that's beside the point. Anyway, the only time I miss it is on Thursday nights when Husband and I have our date night and we watch CSI...and I watch The Office. Instead, we've been watching the second season of 24. I expect we'll start the 3rd season tomorrow. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm really tempted to started buying the seasons of The Office. Gak! Did I really just type that?

It's 3:38 pm and I'm hungry, so I'm off to search for some snacky morsels.

Hey!

It's Monday and still no word on my beloved. Yes, I'm talking about my Tran. My beloved little Tran. Sigh. Husband said to me last night that when he bought it for me, he was just hoping that I'd like it - he had no idea the level of infatuation it would effect.

So we went out Friday night with our Pal and his family. Our Pal and I both got squirted with horse radish and it landed in our hair. A waitress at a table behind us stepped on something or dropped something, but squirted we got. I tell you, having horse radish in your bangs sure does clear out the sinus passages. We should have complained more and tried to get a discount on our meal. We had a great time with our Pal and his family. Nice, nice people.

On Saturday we went to our travel group meeting and met most of the rest of the people in our group. One girl lives in our nations capital and was not able to make the meeting. Traffic was heavy. So we all went out to lunch afterwards; 2 1/2 hours later, Husband gently reminded me that we needed to get going. I was kind of glad to be leaving the restaurant - not the company - because our table was half booth and half chairs...the booth half, where I happened to be sitting, made you sink very low so that the table was chest high. A wee bit awkward for eating. But hey, at least we no longer have a coffee dilemma. As you will recall, I need a cup of joe to get my eyes fully open and my body horizontal. And I've been a tad worried about what to do in China with no coffee maker in our room, but we, as a group, decided to buy a cheapo coffee maker in China and make coffee in the hotel hall for all of us addicts. So we decided we could even buy one in Chensha, leave it there, and buy another one in Beijing for our second week. I'll need to make sure to bring a tin or two of Tim's, some whiteners and some Splenda. I'm so relieved. You have no idea. Mostly I'm relieved because the other travellers don't think my coffee addiction is out of the norm...they even think it's Husband with the addiction! Score one for me!

Saturday night our church hosted a sing-spiration-type-singy-thing. Different churches were invited to come along and have their musical people do specials. It was a really fun evening. I had told Mrs. Choir Director that there was a slight possibility that I'd be late (I was scheduled to sing one solo and my ladies' trio was doing 2 songs), so she scheduled what I was in for the last part of the program. I got home in time to brush my hair and teeth, and I made it back to church just as everybody started singing the opening hymn. Cutting it a little close. I don't really enjoy that amount of stress, plus I hadn't practiced all week because I usually practice in the daytime, but with my assistant around now, I don't feel right about, and I can't practice at night because I bother the boys with my loudness as they're trying to sleep. But it all worked out, even without warming up or practicing.

So today, Tigger has been sick all weekend and now Shaggy is not feeling well. The poor boy had a bag of frozen carrots on his head and then came and asked me if he had a fever. Um, son, your head feels extremely cold.

Husband and Zoomer are on their way home from applying for Zoomer's passport. I took his picture and paperwork to church last night to get Pastor to guarantee it, and Zoomer was showing his picture to his friends. They all said he looked like a terrorist. I thought he looked normal.

I'm going to end this post now because I rubbed my eyes and apparently I must have some onion juice on my fingers, because now I can't see for the stinging and the tears. So please ignore anything that's spelled incorrectly...

Incoherently Yours,

Jaj

My Tran

My poor Tran is in the shop. You know, my Tran - part truck, part van - that I got for Christmas from Husband. The Chevy Envoy. It's been in the shop since Wednesday and will be there until Monday. At least. It's sick, my poor little vehicle.

Friday night when we got home from the airport, I said to Husband, I smell gas, as I was walking to the house. Gasoline, people, jeesh. He didn't smell anything, but his sniffer isn't as good as mine. So on Saturday, when I was in town doing errands, I smelled gasoline again every time I got out of the Tran. And the poor girl was not wanting to start. I came home and told Husband I thought there was a gas leak. He didn't believe me because he said the gas gauge would be moving. Which is wasn't. On Sunday the same thing was happening, but I didn't press the issue, other than to tell him it was still happening, because he really didn't believe me. On Sunday there was a half tank of gas. On Monday afternoon, when I went to pick the boys up from school, there was a quarter tank of gas, and I had stayed home all day. When we got home from school, it was below an eighth of a tank. So I told him there was definitely a leak. This time he believed me and booked the Tran to get fixed. Turns out something was corroded off of the tank and couldn't be fixed - it needed to be replaced - resulting in my Tran needing a new gas tank. A NEW GAS TANK. And I've only had the poor little thing for a month.

I can't believe how much I miss it. Seriously. I seriously, truly miss it. I asked Husband if it would be weird of me to go visit it yesterday and just sit in it for awhile. He assured me it would be quite weird. But I still miss it.

So I've been driving Fil's truck since he's joined Millie in Florida. But it's still not my Tran. I am so very sad. Not really, I'm just after the dramatic here. I'm just a little bit sad. Not despondent sad. Just regular sad.

Four Things, Maybe Five

1. Missing Gum
2. Missing Wedding Ring
3. Travel Plans
4. Cats

1. Missing Gum. There is one brand of gum that I absolutely love. Dentyne Frostbites, orange flavour. When we went to Florida in October, I ran out of gum and couldn't find any there. Lots of different brands that we don't have in the Great White North, but not my orange flavoured frostbites. It was very sad. When we got home, I was quite alarmed because the grocery store that I shop at didn't have any. So then I was all worried that because we were gone for almost a week, and I didn't buy any during that time, they thought people didn't like them and as a result stopped stocking them. About a week later, I noticed my frostbites were back on the shelf, so now, everytime I go to the grocery store, I always buy two packs of my oranged flavoured frostbites. In case I run out again. I keep them in my nightstand, which probably isn't the smartest place to keep them, because Shaggy has found them. And has eaten a few packs. Okay, he's had 5 packs. Yes, Five! I thought I had more than what was there. Anyhoo, yesterday morning, I found 2 empties under his pillow. That afternoon, Tigger found 3 more empties under his pillow. Needless to say, he has committed an apocolyptic sin. It's my frostbites, after all! Still thinking of a good punishment for him.

2. Missing Wedding Ring. Husband's wedding ring is missing. As in stolen (we think) missing. At the pig barn, everybody has to shower in because we have healthy pigs and we are trying to keep pig diseases at bay. So every once in a while, Husband will forget to put his ring back on after his shower and will leave it in the shower. He did that last week. Jay-man at the barn found it and gave it to our Pal, who told Husband about it as we were enroute to Banff. Our Pal put it on top of the fridge in the lunchroom. Only when Husband went to get it on Monday after we got home, it wasn't there. Nor was it on the floor. Our Pal even pulled the fridge out and looked behind it and underneath it. There are a few new employees and people seem to be pointing fingers at the newest guy. The newest guy also said he thought someone had gone through his clothes but nothing was missing... so did this really happen or is he the guilty party trying to throw suspician away from himself...I hate to think that someone actually stole a wedding ring. I started to cry when Husband told me, not for the monetary value of it, but because it is a symbol of our love.

3. Travel Plans. We got an e-mail from our agency this afternoon and our tickets are booked! We leave Friday, March 9th at 7:00 am, have a layover in Vancouver for a few hours because the direct flights were booked, and arrive in Beijing on March 10th at 6:00 pm. We leave Beijing on March 24th at like 2:40 pm and arrive home (direct flight) that same day at 4:00 pm. Wild, isn't it. We're still going to try to get our tickets through airmiles, so these plans aren't set in stone until next Tuesday when payment is due.

4. Cats. We seem to have a cat. I think she moved in to Buddy's dog house when he was vacationing at the vets last week, because she ran out of there last Saturday and has been hanging around ever since. Shaggy was in tears because she ran up the tree. I told him that if she could climb up it, she could get down. She did eventually jump down to the boys and seems to be friendly and purry. And is trying to get in the house. Buddy is a He-Dog Cat Hater. You remmeber the Little Rascals? He-Man Woman Haters? Same sort of thing. Anyway, I bought some food for the poor thing and we've been feeding her outside. This afternoon she was meowing to me at the back door, so I let her in whilst my assistant got the food for her. She's just a kitten. I'm tempted to take her to get fixed because the last thing we need around here is kittens running around the yard. Shaggy has told me that her name is Princess Puffy Jr. the 2nd.

One more thing, if your kid's teacher writes a snotty note in the homework book, is it wrong to write a snotty note back? Not really snotty, but there is a definite tone.

Exams

Zoomer is starting semester exams today. He's a pretty good student but this is his first year having exams and he's having a hard time realizing that he actually needs to study. For semester exams, school is finished at 2:30 instead of 3:20 for all students, elementary included, and for the Jr. High and up, if you don't have an exam, your parents can write a note saying you're allowed to leave school property. Which Husband and I are refusing to do for Zoomer and as a result, he's furious with us. Mostly me. He wants to go to somebody's house, 20 minutes away, to study with a bunch of other 7th and 8th graders... :cough: :choke: :sputter: ...I'm no dummy - there's going to be no time left to study by the time they get there, get a snack, goof off, get another snack, open a book, goof off some more, get another snack...it's be time to go back to school. Silly, silly boys. He's also grounded from an activity night for his little temper tantrum this morning.

I wrote the above paragraph this morning before my assistant came; I don't feel right about blogging when she's around, mostly because she doesn't know I have a blog. So far so good with my assistant. I'm giving her all the filing and stuff I hate doing...bwahahahaha...

So back to Zoomer. He had a tantrum this morning for nothing - not one of his friends left the school. Not even the kid to whose house they all wanted to go. I'm rolling my eyes and shaking my head, and no, I'm not surprised.

And so far, nobody has gotten sick yet. I have a smidge of a sore ear, but I'll keep taking my vitamins and another dose of airborne. As long as we don't get the upchucking thing happening, I'm good to go.

And on that happy thought, I need to start supper.

Just a Quickie

Post silly - get your mind out of the gutter!

So my new office assistant is starting today. Wish us both luck! I'm very nervous because of my personal space issues...

We received an e-mail from our business associate that we traveled with to Banff - he was in the hospital yesterday morning with the flu. The nasty flu that takes 3 weeks to get over. So I've been making sure we've been taking all our vitamins, and I've been drinking airborne - I'm almost out, so since I haven't been able to find it here in the Great White North, it's time to make another trip south of the border.

That's about it today. I feel a tension headache coming on.

Back to the Land of the Blogging

We're back! Again. From Banff! Again. Had a great time, wish you were there. Well, maybe not all of you...heh.

So last Monday, school was cancelled because of an ice storm. And then our power went out. But it came back on 4 hours later. But then it went out again. But came back on 2 1/2 hours later. But then it went out again. And didn't come back on until almost 21 hours later. So it was a chilly day. And school was closed on Tuesday as well because of the power thing.

But it was really pretty to look at:



We had to postpone our trip to Banff because we couldn't leave with all the barns hooked up to generators, so Husband was able to get us a flight out on Wednesday morning. We had to leave the house at 5:30 am. I don't do 5:30 am. We were almost late for our flight. You know it's not a good thing when the girl at the ticket counter knows your name before you walk up to it...

This was the welcoming committee at the hotel we stayed at:


The view the next morning from our window...it was a very small window:


I would never tire of seeing this every day:

So we arrived home last night tired. We were almost late again for our return trip home. Oh, we got to the airport in plenty of time and thought it would be a good idea to get something to eat before we left; airplane cookies just don't cut it. We had a business associate with us and even though we all thought it was a good idea to eat, I said I'd feel better if we ate on the other side of the security check-point. But what do I know. I was out-voted because they didn't have Kelsey's on the other side. So we ate and were on schedule until the security check-point...the line was very long...we waited 15 minutes for our turn and heard over the loudspeaker, If you are on flight whatever it was to London, and you are not on the plane, you are not where you belong. Oy! Luckily we weren't picked out of the line to have our carry-ons searched, so as we were scooting our way to the check-in counter we heard our names being paged. Oy again. Husband and I had left our associate in the restaurant (to finish chewing - I told him to chew faster) and he was way behind us in line at the security check point, but he must have budded because he made it to the plane. He even accused me of letting the plane leave without him. As if I have control over things like that. Anyhoo. We're home. The dogs are home. The boys are home. It's good to be home. Nine more weeks and Thumbelina will be home too.

Just Some Things

I ordered a girly-girl diaper bag from Perrin at Pink Evita, and I just received it in the mail on Friday. It is sooooooo girly-girl and I love it so much. Perrin even made a matching one for Thumbelina! Her first purse! How sweet is that. Unfortunately, blogger isn't letting me upload the pictures, but you can see them here. And I even had one of Tigger modeling Thumbelina's purse too. That picture is priceless. So this particular diaper bag will be for going to church and other fun places. I have purchased a backpack style diaper bag for our trip to China, which isn't as pretty, but I'm sure I can cram more baby stuff in it and it will be easier to lug around.

And Tina at the Story of You has Thumbelina's picture up on our home page, and we have officially moved from the Waiting for Referrals section to the Ready to Go section. So exciting! Go check it out! It makes me cry! I'm such a wuss! I can't stop using exclamation points! Yay!

We Have a Name!

Finally we have a name. Poor little peanut has been referred to as The Baby Girl or Thumbelina for so long, Tigger actually thought that's what her name was! I printed off copies of her picture for the boys to take to school with them, and Tigger's teacher asked him what her name was - he said, We're thinking of calling her Thumbelina. I don't know what his teacher thinks of us now...probably not much different than she thought of us before...

So things are falling into place. Our doctor checked out her file and was very pleased and we had our visit with our social worker this morning. I need to Xpress Post all our signed documents back to the agency today, because did I tell you - we're going to Banff next week! Yay! I'm so excited. Husband hadn't decided if he should go this year again or not, and when I asked around for baby sitters it all worked out, so that pretty much decided that he was going when I said I could go too. It's for pig meetings, and I'm just going along for the ride.

Oh, did I forget to mention Thumbelina's name to you? Bwahahahahaha. Okay, I'll stop playing mean. Her name is Kallie Hope Qi Liang. Kallie means Beautiful as does Qi Liang...I'm pretty sure. She was given that name by the orphange in the hope that she would grow to be bright and beautiful. Did I tell you all this before? Forgive me if I'm repeating myself. So Kallie. I think she looks like a Kallie. She certainly is beautiful. And just so you know, this will be the only post that she's referred to as Kallie; after this it will be back to Thumbelina again.

I'm very happy.

Pictures!!!

Finally some pictures of Qi Liang!!! Isn't she just the sweetest little thing you've ever laid eyes on??? I can't wait to hold her!!!




So our report says she is a deep sleeper (Yay), she can crawl, she likes toys that make noise, and she likes to watch the other babies play. At 5 months, when these pictures were taken, she weighed 13 pounds, a bit of a light-weight, but pretty big compared to Tigger. I know you're not supposed to compare your children, but Tigger didn't weigh 13 pounds until he was a year old.

We (mostly me) can't stop looking at her picture and I promise she will have a name by the weekend.

Good News & Bad News

Good News: My computer doesn't have a virus nor spyware; it was just a glitch with the Windows program.

Bad News: It's still at the computer store getting the hard drive re-computed or something like that, so I'm unable to scan any pictures to post on my blog. Hopefully I'll have it back tomorrow.

Good News: WE HAVE PICTURES!!! (of Thumbelina, silly)

Bad News: We can't scan them (see Bad News above) so you'll just have to take my word for it that she is the sweetest, most precious, most beautiful baby girl there is.

Good News: We're getting closer to picking out a name.

Bad News: We haven't actually decided on one yet.

Good News: I feel relaxed enough that I think I can sleep tonight. I actually feel exhausted.

Bad News: I'm too excited to sleep. I guess that really isn't bad news unless you're one of my offspring who catches me overtired in the wee hours or the morning. I'm not a morning person.

Good News: We should meet Thumbelina on March 12!!!

Bad News: Her room isn't ready for her yet.

So there you have it. It's been quite a day. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment to go over her medical information; and then on Saturday we'll meet with our social worker. And then early next week our agency should be able to send everything off to the Province for approval and then our acceptance of our referral will be sent China. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

Happy Dreams, Everybody!

Viral

I'm viral. Not so much me as my computer. How did this happen? I'm so careful! I feel like I've gotten a communicable disease and everybody I talk to will get it. Oooo, I'm diseased. On Sunday my computer wouldn't boot up. Took forever. Husband thought it was the power supply, so he took it in to have the IT Guy at the computer store look at it. Except that was yesterday and he still has it. The IT Guy thinks it's a virus of some sort, and he's a bit worried since it had to go through their system and then our system before it even reached my computer. So far, I'm the only one on our network that's affected, and what's really bothering IT Guy is that he can't find a virus. He thinks it might be a new one that's somehow snuck by all the fancy-do software. So I'm forced to use Husband's laptop - I feel so out of touch! Husband said I'm an addict and need help. I told him I just need my computer back.

Thumbelina. I sent our agency director an e-mail on Saturday asking her if she could send us Thumbelina's picture after she's had a chance to review all the files and she wrote back and said, "my policy is to send the pictures with the files." So I guess that's a big fat no. I thought maybe since she had been on holidays she'd be able to bend the rules for us. So Husband and I will be going to Toronto tomorrow afternoon to get her file and pictures FINALLY. Husband has to pick up his dad from the airport so it works out. Fil and Millie have officially flown the coop and are snow-birding it up in the sunny south. I hear that the temperature yesterday was 'dropping to 80 degrees' or something stupid like that. Anyway, Fil still has meetings and work to do, he just wanted to drive Millie down there and get her settled and then he'll be flying back there at some point. And Lola is hoping we can take him to the airport again and do some major shopping. I'm not enjoying this laptop thing, so you'll just have to take my word for it that we had quite the adventure the last time we took Fil back to the airport. If you want to read about it, it was last March sometime; if you look hard enough I'm sure you'll find it.

So I think right now I'll go wash the kitchen floor since it's not very convenient to read everybody's blogs at the moment. I miss you all!!!

8 Months Old

Dear Baby Girl,

Today is your 8 month birthday. There won't be too many more that you'll have to celebrate apart from your Forever Family. If I could come today to take you home with me I would. I miss you with a fierceness that brings me to tears, and I don't even know what you look like. My arms ache to hold you. I think about you constantly and wonder what you're doing; who you're playing with; if you are feeling a void like we are. Soon, my sweet little one, soon we will meet. There are no words to describe how much I love you. So until we do meet face to face, just know that we pray for you every day and we cannot wait to get to know you and bring you home.

xoxo

Yikes!

I was down stairs doing laundry and I could hear Shaggy yelling, Mom, Mom!

What is the emergency!

He finally found me (I wasn't hiding this time) and said, I'm making cookies!

I just looked at him with one eyebrow raised and he said, Don't worry, I washed my hands! Is two half a cups one cup?

Don't worry indeed.

Blogger isn't letting me post pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination about what my kitchen looks like at the present time. And we're out of eggs, so these cookies are 'egg-free'. Yummy.

I think this is a lesson to all of us not to do laundry.

24 Hours Later

Thanks everyone, for your well wishes! It really means a lot to me.

I'm still walking on a cloud. My notes that I took the other night I carry with me everywhere I go. My notes are sitting on top of my stack of paperwork...which is probably why I'm not getting anything accomplished. I'm dying to see her picture. Literally dying. Literally. Dying. I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything else. My thoughts are all jumbled.

I picked out a name 2 years ago even though Husband still refuses to talk names, and now I'm having second thoughts about that name. Is it any wonder he won't talk names with me? We had this conversation last night:

Me: Think about names tonight when you're sleeping, so when we see her picture we can pick out a name right away.

Husband: We'll pick out a name when we see her.

Me: Picture.

Husband: Her.

Me: Picture!

Husband: I don't think you're listening to me.

Me: I don't think you're listening to me.

I get so irritated with this conversation, which we seem to have every day, and yet I can't stop having it. He loves to bug me and I fall for it every time.

So did you all see The Office last night? Dwight is such an idiot. I thought that scene with him and Pam was the funniest of the night. Idiot. But I couldn't stop laughing. Idiot.

It's Friday. One day closer to Thumbelina and her picture! Yay! Yay Yay Yay Yay Yay!

It's a GIRL!!!

We got The Call - WE GOT THE CALL!!! - last night at 10:00 - LAST NIGHT AT 10:00!!! - Sorry, I'll stop yelling now.

So the scoop is our agency is director is on holidays and won't be back into the office until Tuesday, so the VP was calling the families just to let them know that our referrals have arrived. We have to wait until the director is back before we get more detailed information OR PICTURES which is killing me - KILLING ME - but what I do know is this:

Chen Qi Liang was born May 6, 2006 and is at the Chenzhou Children's Welfare Institue in Hunan Province. And she is just absolutely stunning with a full head of thick black hair.

My first thought was, I don't have any barrettes for her! I have to go buy barrettes! I've been holding off with the hair accessories until I saw her picture in case she was bald and we didn't need anything.

So we will be travelling mid-March, which is what we expected.

So Alfred's Mom was the closest in guessing her age - AM guessed 9 months and Thumbelina will be 8 months on Saturday. Julie & Janet both guessed Hunan Province, so congratulations on your guesswork everybody! I was wrong all around. Although Jiangxi and Hunan are neighbouring provinces...

Anyway. I'm sure today will be a productive day. You all know that was sarcasm, right?

YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!

I'm just giddy.

Waiting...Patiently Waiting

TODAY might be THE DAY we get THE CALL!!! And I jump everytime the phone rings. I've got lots to do today to keep myself busy, but still! I couldn't sleep last night just thinking about Thumbelina. A friend asked me yesterday if I had any guesses as to how old she is and what province she's from, and honestly, it has never really crossed my mind as to the specifics. So to keep ourselves occupied today, let's all make guesses about Thumbelina. I'll go first:

Province: Jiangxi
Age at Referral: 12 months
Weight: 17 lbs

So there's my best guess. And if you happen to be the winner of our little guessing game, you will get...well nothing...other than the satisfaction of being right. So good luck!

Today I have to sing at a funeral. I don't at all like singing at funerals. I don't know this family or the person who died, she was a friend of a friend, and the friend is kind of organizing it all. It's actually more of a memorial service. So the friend asked me to sing, and told me to pick out a song, but she's said no to the first 3 songs I picked out. This 4th one, she doesn't know. Neither do I. So I've been doing a lot of practicing these last few days. But I woke up this morning with the tune in my head, so that's a good thing. But I'm nervous anyway. And my hands are shaking. But is that due to the funeral or our impending referral?

Honestly, I hope we get the call this afternoon, after we're home from the funeral. I just don't see myself being solemn after receiving news about Thumbelina. So. There's my day. I hope yours is exciting as well.

The Stork is in the Air!

That's right, folks! Rumor has it that the Stork is beginning to drop off little bundles of referrals in Europe. So the Great White North could start receiving referrals tomorrow! I told the boys last night at supper that I thought we'd get our referral this Thursday and her actual packet of documents next Monday. Apparently, our little agency only gives out the babies name, birthdate and province/orphanage she is living in and then you get her picture with the rest of the documentation after it's been translated into English, but I'm going to beg our agency to e-mail me her picture before hand. I've seen Thumbelina so many times in my dreams, and the only time I've seen her face was when she was sleeping (in my dreams). We were all talking about names the other day - Husband needs to see her picture before we can pick out her name - and there was one name we all kind of liked. Is it bad if you used to have a puppy with the same name?

So it's the New Year. Still feels like the old year. Was it me, or did Christmas just not feel like Christmas this year? I almost feel kind of grinch-ish for feeling that way. And I'm anxious to claim back my house and put the decorations back in storage. Maybe it was the lack of snow. The temperatures here feel like the end of October.

This week I need to interview somebody to come work for me in the office. It's a necessary evil that I'm not looking forward to. Husband said she needs to have computer skills, but really, all my computer skills were taught to me by Husband. I did take some courses at our local community college, but that was years ago and it was all in DOS. I didn't enjoy DOS. I don't remember anything about DOS. My then employer paid for my course, and even though it was the beginning of the beginner course of computers, he expected me to be a wizard in all things computer by the end of it. I was able to flub my way through it enough to make him think I knew what I was doing. It's easy to impress somebody who doesn't know any better.

So today I need to find my desk and get back to the grind. But first, more coffee.